Fossils

Doily making and crochet became the craft of choice in top society in the mid to late 1800s. When poorer circles cottoned on, angry words were published in magazines by the wealthy stating that the lower classes should stick to making necessities rather than fancy items that were not their place to wear and display. But making ornamental mats became popular anyway.

Women taught each other the single stitch method and creating the patterns and shapes was down to the individual, so each is unique. Many families have discarded them more recently, fossils of a less utilitarian time. But they hold a sort of ghost, every doily saying something about the woman that made it.